EU's future hinges on second Irish vote
Share
Irish voters are heading to the polls for a second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty. Although recent opinion polls suggest a majority of Irish voters now support the Lisbon charter, the vote is tight. If Ireland votes ‘No’ again it could mean an end to the treaty altogether which will severely delay EU integration and further enlargement.
Irish voters rejected the treaty the first time round, in June 2008, by a margin of 7%. This second referendum is about the same treaty text, but since last year EU leaders have given specific commitments on certain issues. Ireland will now not lose control over taxation, or be forced to legalise abortion and will not have its neutrality threatened.
All of Ireland's major parties campaigned for a Yes vote except the nationalist Sinn Fein: Irish vote on Lisbon will be tight.
The result of the referendum isn’t expected until early afternoon on Saturday as counting will not begin until that morning. There will be no exit polling during the day of voting, but turnout estimates will be known once polls close.
Hugo Brady, a political analyst at the Centre for European Reform think-tank and a native of Ireland, thinks the result will be a simple reversal of the last vote: “So 53 percent 'Yes', 47 percent 'No' on roughly the same turnout."
Poland and Czeck Republic
The Lisbon Treaty was designed to speed up decision-making in the EU and needs to be ratified by all 27 member states in order to take effect. An Irish ‘Yes’ would put pressure on Poland and the Czeck Republic, the only other countries yet to ratify it.
Diplomats in Brussels are concerned that the Czech Republic president Václav Klaus will stall the case till next year, at which time they hope the Conservative party will be in power in Great Britain. The British Conservatives have said they plan to organise a referendum if the Lisbon Treaty is not yet in force across the entire EU.
Women for Europe
In the last vote, 56 percent of the No voters was made up of women voters. For this reason the campaign 'Women for Europe' was started and become a growing network of women who came together to encourage a Yes vote in the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland.
Brussels correspondent Vanessa Mock interviews Rosita Agnew, an EU official based in Brussels, who has been travelling back and forth to Ireland in the past months as part of the Women for Europe campaign in favour of the Lisbon Treaty:
